Carlos Vives Cancels His Nicaragua Concert

The highly popular Columbian musician Carlos Vives cancelled his scheduled Managua concert aimed at “raising money” for the National Zoo. The WK Entertainment Agency that manages Vives’ shows and the Premier Productions Company, which organized the event, informed the public on Monday of the cancellation via a press release. The show had been scheduled for March 23 of this year.

At present, the popular singer, who is known for his Vallenato rhythms, hasn’t yet issued any statement on his social networks with regard to this decision.

Last year, the National Zoo issued an SOS due to the impact of the country’s socio-political crisis, which has caused a drop in visitors and income.

Nonetheless, news of the concert created controversy on social media, where a campaign to boycott the event was begun, due to the supposed sponsorship from the Ortega regime’s official channels.

The demonstrators who oppose the regime complained that the companies that were promoting Vives’ concert allegedly support the Ortega government, accused of committing crimes against humanity in their efforts to repress the population that rebelled in April.

Messages highly critical of the concert could be seen on social media. For example: “the monkey dances for money”, or “don’t support a dictator, don’t come to Nicaragua to stain your hands with blood.”

SUBSCRIBE TO THE DISPATCH

Get the most prominent news about Nicaragua, every Wednesday, directly to your inbox.

Email *

Vives received a suggestion on Twitter that if he wanted to support the Nicaraguan zoo, it would be better to “collect money and we’ll all collaborate, [but] come to sing with the people when we’re all free.”

“Your concert will be used to feign a normality that doesn’t exist”

Gioconda Belli, Nicaraguan poet who has received a number of international awards, asked Carlos Vives via Twitter on Sunday to suspend the concert that he had planned to present in the country, because “they’re repressing us day by day.”

“Carlos Vives: Your music is fantastic, but because of your standing in Latin America, I must ask you not to come to Nicaragua while we’re being repressed on a daily basis”, advocated the prolific writer and author.

“Your concert will be used [by the government of Daniel Ortega] to feign a normality that doesn’t exist in the country. We love you here, and we’d be pained @carlosvives”, added the poet, a dissident from the governing party the Sandinista National Liberation Front.(FSLN).

(Includes information from EFE)